Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Researching your competitors is important as it becomes an
integral part of your company’s business strategy. By being able to track the
top players in your industry, you can use that information to help improve your
own services, gain new customers and increase your market share.When doing competitive research, companies
need to:

·Understand what their competition is doing and
how successful they are.

·Identify the strategies your main competitors
are using to increase sales.

In these times, it’s not that hard to keep abreast on what’s
going on in the industry and especially your competitors. If you don’t know what they are up to, then you
can’t position your brand differently and won’t be able to convince potential
customers as to why they should do business with you. Here are a few simple
ways to keep tabs on your closest competitors:

·Analyze
your competitors’ websites. Your competitors’ websites will tell you a lot
in regards to their sales and marketing strategy. Using online tools, you can
review what keywords or phrases they are getting found for and targeting,
analyze their backlink strategy and take a look at their editorial content.
Sign up for their newsletters, and create a news alert to get their press
releases. Your competitors’ website is the best place to learn about any new
products or services that are launched.

·Follow
their social media accounts. By signing for their Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter
accounts, you will be able to be follow any updates about your competitors in
real-time. Don’t only sign up for the main company accounts, but also identify
key employees and sign up to follow their personal accounts. For example: you
can keep track of who is leaving or getting hired using LinkedIn. Social media platforms have created some transparency,
allowing you to be updated on all your competitors quickly.

·Use Google
Alerts. Google Alerts is a great tool for the entrepreneur. It allows you
to scan the internet for you and emails you any updates related to keywords or
phrases that you choose. You can even
enter common keywords for both your companies and see which website has the
most reach. This is a great way to see what prospects and customers are saying
about you or your competitors.

The benefits of tracking and analyzing your competition can
range from maintaining high search engine rankings, stealing market share or
identifying weaknesses in your competitors’ services. This information helps
your prepare strategically as to what your competitors are up to and how your
industry is evolving. Remember, information is power, and doing competitive research
can only help your company move ahead.

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